Your problem may me improper pruning and or Troubles in the Rhizosphere
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

also see A touch of chemistry.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/CHEM.html

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"Carl Riehm" wrote in message
...

I have an American Holly (Ilex opaca), planted in 1985, now over 20' high
- probably close to 25'. It has been sick for several years.

One person who claimed to be an expert on I.opaca said I should use Cygon
2E, in spite of the fact that it warned on the label not to use it on
hollies. I did use it and almost killed the tree.

I just sprayed it this morning with "dormant" fungicide spray ("97%
mineral oil" according to the label). I was also going to spray it with a
dormant insecticide, until I noticed a warning against using it on
hollies.

There are a few pictures of affected leaves he
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&x=0&y=-y7zem0

In fact many of the leaves are much worse - there is also a seedling of
about 2 1/2 feet which is much worse - many of the leaves are completely
dead.

Can anyone recognize the problem? Maybe *more* than one problem?

Solutions?


Carl